Car construction



Jan- 10, 1933- F. DlTcHFlELD 1,893,494

CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 21. 1930 Patented Jan. 1), 1933 un arras FRANK DETCHFEELD, OE' CLEVELAND, OEIS, ASSIGNGR TO THE YOUNGSTGWN STEEL DOOR COMPANY, F CLEVELAND, CHIC, .A CORFORATEON GF l(l1-H0 CAR CONSTRUCTION Application filed March 21, 1930. Serial` No. 437,61l3. v i

This invention relates to improvements in car construction.

As is well lnown, in the operation of railway cars of the box or house type, it is customary to `provide weather and spark seals along the rear edges vof the side doors. The

most common forms of such door seals involve the use of a strip affixed to the rear door post and projecting rearwardly therefrom l0 and a cooperating` strip secured to the rear vertical edge of the door, the door strip projectino' inwardly of the plane of the door so as to engage the post strip when the door is in closed position. Such door strips, in actual practice, project inwardly of the inner vertical plane of the door at least l so that, it evident, the inner surface of the door must move in a vertical plane located at least l outwardly of the outer wall of the car or any` post or braces disposed on the outer face of the car wall, such latter constructions being now in common use.

Inasmuch as the over-all width of all cars is limited by A. R. A. standards, it necessarily follows that, in box or house cars, provided with door seals, the available inside width of the car is limited by the clearance necessary to be provided for the plane of movement of the door sealing strip. Stated otherwise, with door sealing strips projecting, say l inwardly of the vertical plane of the door, at least 2 of the available inside width of the car must necessarily be sacrificed in order to permit the use of such door seals and the free opening and closing movements of the side doors.

For the reasons indicated, certain railroads refuse to employ weather and spari: seals of 1 the customary forms in order that the 2 or more of the inside width of the car may be utilized for load purposes and such railroads therefore resort to coopering of the doors when transporting any goods which must be protected by sealing. Coopering of the door is not only expensive as regards both cost of labor and material, used and then destroyed, but is unsatisfactory and easily injured in transit. Further, coopering cannot 5o be employed at all on all metal house cars which are now rapidly displacing all wood or wood and steel box cars.

One object of my invention, therefore, is to provide an efficient, strong weather and spark seal arrangement for slidable doors of house Vcars such that the arrangement involves no sacrifice of inside width of the car but permits the obtaining of the maximum inside width.

Another object of my invention is toprovide a sealing arrangement for slidable doors such that those portions of the sealing arrangement which are carried by the relatively fixed member having the door opening, are moved out of the path of the slidable door when the latter is moved to open position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a sealing arrangement for the rear end of a slidable door such that the seal is automatically made operative and effective by the door itself during the latter portion of the closing movement of the door.

@ther objects of the invention will more clearly appear fro-m the description andV claims hereinafter following.v

In the drawing forming a partof this specification, Figure l is a side elevational view, partly broken away, to accommodate the figure on the sheet, illustrating my improvements as incorporated in a box car. Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view -corresponding to the line 2-2 of Figure 1,parts being broken away in this figure also, in order to accommodate the view on the sheet. And Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view correspending to the line 3 3 of Figure 2, show.- ing, in full lines, the position assumed by the parts when the door is in fully closed position and, in dotted lines, the position of the sealing plate when moved to inoperative position as the door is opened.

In said drawing, the car body is shown as having a Z-bar side plate l0, to the lower outwardly extended flange of which is secured a guide plate l1 for the upper edge of the door. The car body is provided with a side door opening, as customary` the rear edge of said opening being defined by a vertically extending Z-bar post l2, the web of which extends normal to the side wall vproper 13 and outwardly of the plane thereof. The wall 13 may be secured to the inner flange 14 of the Z-bar post, the outer flange 15 thereof extending inwardly toward the door` opening. A channel side sill 1G is shown and supported from the latter is an angle track 17 on which the lower edge of the sheet metal door 18 is supported as by means of rollers 19. The door 18 may be of any suitable or desired form, but preferably is comprised of sheet metal having, along its rear vertical edge, an outwardly extended vertical corrugation 2O and a multiple-ply vertically extending margin 21. Secured to the rear flat marginal edge of the door is a vertically extending weather sealing element 22 of approximately Z-formation in cross section as shown in Figure 3. This memberhas an inner flange 23 directly rivet-ed or otherwise secured to the marginal edge of the door, an outwardly extending section 24 and a rearwardly extended flange 25.

Secured to the web of the Z-bar post at the outer portion thereof is an angle 26, one flange of which is riveted to the web and the other flange extended rearwardly and flush with the outer flange 15 of the post. Mounted in the corner formed between the post 12 and the side wall of the car is a pivoted sealing plate 27 The plate 27 is-of special formation, having an inner flange 28 extending parallel to the wall 13 when the plate is in operative position, an outwardly extended flange 29 which passes the angle 26 and the marginal edge 'of the door and is then formed with an angular edge 30, which extends around the rear edge of the flange 25 of the sealing element carried by the door and pro- `iects a short distance outwardly thereof, as clearly shown in Figure 3. The plate 27 is carried by two brackets 31-31, which in turn are secured to a vertically disposed shaft 32 of square cross section intermediate its ends, the end portions 33-33 being cylindrical and working in journals provided in two brackets 34-34, which are secured to the post 12. As will be understood. the plate 27 extends downwardly to a point approximately on a level with the bottom edge of the door and, at its upper end, is notched as indicated at 35. so as to clear the downturned flange of the guide plate 11, thereby providing a seal for the joint between the door and post for the full lengt-h thereof.

For automatically operating and locking the sealing plate 27, the following arrangement is preferably employed. Secured to the shaft 32, near the bottom thereof, is a casting 36, having an outwardly extending arm 37 the outer end of which is downwardly offset as indicated at 38, as best shown in Figure 2. Said arm 37-38 is so disposed as to clear the tracl; 17, as will be apparent. Said arm l37-38, as best shown in Figure 3,

has a triangular toe piece 39, for the purpose at its rear portion, which projects downwardly on the inside of the track 17, sufficiently to engag-e the arm portion 37. The member 4() also has an upper horizontal portion 43 extending outwardly from the door and above the track 17 and is then bent downwardly so as to provide an arm 44 which is extended downwardly sufiiciently to engage the arm portion 38. The arm 44 engages the arm 38 on the forward side of the latter, as clearly shown in Figure 3 and the depending arm 42 is disposed on the opposite side of the arm portion 37 and is so spaced, horizontally, with respect to the arm 44 that, when the arm 37-38 is in the position indicated by the full lines in Figure 3, both of said arms 44 and 42 engage the arm 37-38 on opposite sides thereof and hence serve to hold or retain the arm 37--38 when the door is in fully closed position. As will be understood, any suitable door locking mechanism may be employed, the same generally being mounted at the forward edge of the door, but which I have deemed unnecessary to illustrate. Hence, it follows that, when the door is in closed position and locked, the sealing plate 27 will necessarily be locked in its operative position shown by the full lines in Figure 3.

The automatic operation of the plate 27 is effected as follows. Assuming the parts in the full line position shown in the drawing, and the door 18 then moved to open position, the depending arm 44 will move the arm 37-38 in a counterclockwise direction and continue such movement until the arm 37-38 reaches the dotted line position shown in Figure 3, at which time the arm 44 clears the outer end of the arm section 38 and the opening movement of the door 18 may then be continued without further actuation of the sealing plate 27. In this connection, it will be noted that the brackets 31 are shouldered as indicated at 45 so that they will engage the inner flange 14 of the Z-bar post, when the plate 27 has reached the dotted line position shown in Figure 3 and thereby prevent the plate 27 and its arm 37-38 from moving further in a counterclockwise direction. ln the dotted line condition of the parts, it is evident that the door 18 clears the plate 27 and the latter is then housed between the door 18 and the side wall of the car when the door is open. When the door is next moved toward closed position and during the latter portion of such movement, it is evident that the arm portion 37 is in the line of travel of the depending arm l2 carried by the door so that the arm 42 will engage and actuate the arm {5T-3S and move it to the full line position shown in Figure 3 as the door is moved to its final closed position, thereby automatically bringing the plate 2'? into its operative or effective position.

F rom the preceding description, taken in connection with the drawing, it is evident that the door 18 operates in a vertical plane outwardly spaced from the plane of the wall proper` 13 and that this spacing may be reduced vto the minimum, merely suilicient for the door 1S to clear such posts and braces as are on the outer side of the wall proper 13, that is, no additional space is required for any7 sealing element carried by either the car body or the door and hence the maximum inside width of the car is obtainable. It will further be observed that the operator is not required to pay any attention to the sealing arrangement, inasmuch as the operation is automatic throughout and positive. Looking at Figure 3. it will also be observed the outwardly extended portion 30 of the plate 27 forms an excellent defiecting plate for any rain, snow, or the like, when the car is moving in a direction toward the right, as viewed in Figures 1 and 3. Then the car is moving in the opposite direction, any rain, snow or the like which may be caught on the extended flange 30 will be driven against the latter and will be held against the inner surface of the plate and gradually drop down to the bottom without danger of the same entering the joint between the door post and the door.

From the precedinodescription, taken in connection with the drawing, it will be seen that the improvements may be appliec to new and olo cars and, by slight modifications, may be adapted to various types of car body and car door constructions. All changes and modifications are contemplated that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In combination: amemberhavingadoor opening in a wall thereof with the rear door post projecting outwardly beyond the plane of the outer surface of the adjacent wall and forming a corner therewith; a door horizontally slidable past said post and in front of and spaced from said outer surface ot the wall; movable means disposed in said corner adapted to be positioned to cover the vertical joint between the door and post when the door in closed position and to lie behind and clear of the door when the latter is in open 1Nosition: and devices Jrior automaticalating said means to operative position 1'.' a' during movement of the door in a horizontal direction parallel to said wall to closed position.

2. In combination: a house oar body member with a door opening in a wall thereof and having the rear door post extended outwardly from the-plane of said wall; a door member horizontally slidable past said post and in a plane outwardly spaced from said wall; a vertically extending, sealing plate movably mounted on one of said members, said plate being movable to operative position to cover the vertical joint between said post and door member when the door member is in closed position and movable to a clearance position when the door member is open to thereby prevent fouling between the door and car body members; and devices for automatically actuating said plate to operative position to cover the vertical oint between the post and door member during movement of the door horizontally parallel to said wall to closed position.

8. In combination: a house car body member with a door opening in a wall thereof and having the rear door post extended outwardly from the plane of said wall 5 a door member horizontally slidable past said post and in a. plane outwardly spaced from said wall; a vertically extending, sealing plate pivotally mounted to swing` on a vertical aXis on one of said members, said plate being movable to operative position to cover the vertical oint between said post and door member when the door member is in closed position and movable to a clearance position when the door memberis open to thereby prevent fouling between the door. and car body members; and devices for automatically swinging said plate about its axis fully to final operative position as the door member is moved to closed position covering the point between the door and post. i

4. In combination: a house car body member with a door opening in a. wall thereof and having the rear door post extended outwardly from the plane of said wall; a door member horizontally slidable past said post and in a plane outwardly spaced from said wall; a vertically extending sealing plate pivotally mounted to swing on a vertical axis on one of said members, said plate being movable to operative position to cover the vertical joint between said post and door member when the door member is in closed position ancL movable to a clearance position when the door member is open to thereby prevent fouling between the door and car body members; and devices for automatically swinging said plate about its axis to operative position as the door member is moved to closed position, said devices including an arm rigidly associated with the plate and a projection on the other member, the projection and arm being in the same line of travel and adapted to engage as the door member moves to closed position.

5. In combination: a member having a door opening in a wall thereof with the rear door post projecting outwardly beyond the (if: nu

plane of the outer surface of the adjacent wall and forming a corner therewith; a door slidable past said post and in front of and spaced from said outei surface of the wall; a pivoted sealing element disposed in said corner adapted to be positioned to cover the vertical joint between the door and post when the door is in closed position and to lie behind and clear of the door when the latter is in open position; and devices for automatically actuating said sealing element to opei'ative position, said devices including an arm rigidly associated with the sealing element and a projection on the door, the arm .being in the path of travel of said projection.

(i. ln a house car having a side door opening and a slidable door for closing said opening, the combination with a sealing plate mounted on the car body to swing about a vertical axis adjacent the rear edge of the door opening; a cooperable sealing element fined to the rear edge of the door on the outer side thereof, said plate, in operative position, extending across the joint between the door and door framing and overlapping said sealing element on the door; and automatically' operable means for actuating said p ivotally mounted plate to and positively retaining in fully operative position as the door is moved to its closed position covering the joint between the door and post` 7. ln car construction, the combination with a house car body having a side door opening and a rear door post therefor, said post projecting outwardly of the side .vali and forn'iing a corner therewith; of a vertically extending sealing plate pivotally mounted to swing about a vertical axis located in said corner; a coopei'able sealing element mounted on the rear edge of the door and over which the sealing plate is adapted to lie when the door is in closed position; and devices for actuating said pivoted plate to inoperative position when the door is opened and to actuate it to operative position and there lock it when the door is closed, said devices including an arm movable in unison with the plate and projecting outwardly of the car side, and forked projections ci ricd by die door engageable with opposite sides of said arm.

S. ln car construction, the combination with a house car body having a side door opening, a rear door post therefor, said post projecting outwardly of the side wall and forming a corner therewith, and a horizontally slidable door; of a vertically :ei-:tending sealing plate pivota`ly mounted to swing about a vertical av located in said correr; a cooperablc seali: g element mora-ted on rear edge of the door and over which the sealing plate is adapted to lie when the door is in closed position; cooperable means carried by the plate and door for actuating the plate to operative position covering the joint between the door and post and to inoperative position in back of the door, as the door is mov-ed in a direction parallel to the sid-e wall of the car to closed and opened positions, respectively; and means limiting the movement of said plate to its inoperative position whereby to maintain said devices in condition to be re-engaged when the door is returned to close-d position.

9. ln combination: a member having a door opening in a wall thereof; a door slidable past a rear edge of said door opening; movable means disposed adjacent said rear edge of the door opening, said means being movable to an operative position to cover the vertical oint between the door and the wall when the door is in closed position; and cooperable devices on said means and door automatically engageable to move said means to operative position when and as the door is moved to closed position and to move said means to inoperative position when the door is opened, said cooperable devices being interloclred when the door is in closed position whereby to positively retain said means in operative position so long as the door remains closed,

lO. n combination: a member having a door opening in a wall thereof; a dooi horiuitally slidable past tlie rear edge of said door opening; means pivotally mounted adjacent said reai edge of the door opening movable to an operative position to cover the vertical joint between the door and wall when the door is in closed position; and cooperable devices on said means and door engageable to actuate said means to operative and inoperative positions when the door is moved to closed and open positions respectively, said cooperable devices being located below 'the bottom edge of the door and said devices being rigid with said means and door respectively.

ll. In a house car having a side door opening and a horizont-ally slidable door for closing said opening, the combination with a sealing element fixed to the rear edge of the door on the outer side thereof, said element having a section extending laterally outwardly and a flange extending rearwardly therefrom; of a sealing plate mounted on the car body to swing about a vertical axis and adjacent the rear edge of the door opening, said plate when in operative closed position having a section extending transversely outwardly and partially overlying said out-- wardly extending section of the door sealing element, and also an offset flange overlapping the edge of said rearwardly extending flange of the door sealing` element whereby to provide a deflector for rain and the like.

12. In combination, a member having a door opening in a wall thereof with the rear door post projecting outwardly beyond the plane of the outer surface of the adjacent lli) Wall and forming a corner therewith; a door horizontally slidable past said post and in front of and spaced from said outer surface' of the Wall; a pivoted sealing element dis-j posed in said corner adapted to be positioned to Cover the vertical joint between the door and post When the door is in closed position and to lie behind and clear of the door when the latter is in open position; and devices` for automatically actuating said element to completely operative position covering the joint between the door and post as the dooi` is moved to closed position.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 14th day of March, 1930.

FRANK DITCHFIELD. 

